Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Patches come thick and fast in major update spree
Monthly and out-of-band issues flood admins’ to-do lists. The release of this month’s Patch Tuesday security bulletins from Microsoft , with a fairly average 10 alerts covering 34 separate vulnerabilities, is accompanied by a number of additional fixes and updates which will keep security admins busy this week. Adobe has announced plans to provide an…
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ESET buys COMDOM
Security vendor strengthens anti-spam capabilities. Slovakian security vendor ESET has announced the acquisition of Slovakian anti-spam firm COMDOM Software . The anti-spam firm’s developers have previously worked with ESET on the development of the NOD32 platform for Linux mail servers. Now, ESET will use COMDOM ‘s anti-spam technology and expertise to strengthen its range of…
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Symantec to acquire VeriSign business
Vendor splashes out more cash on authentication. Symantec , the AV vendor with a reputation for snapping up other companies, has announced its purchase of VeriSign ‘s authentication services business. The $1.28 billion cash deal – expected to close in the quarter ending in September – follows hot on the heals of two other encryption-related…
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Contract spam serving malware
Recipients made to believe they have been sent emails accidentally. In a new campaign, spammers are sending out emails that have appear to have contracts attached to them, but which actually serve malware, Sophos ‘s Graham Cluley reports. The emails, which are still being sent at the time of writing, have subject lines suggesting that…
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Mariposa bot herders apply for job with security firm
Applicants weren’t successful, but may not see prison either. Panda Labs ‘ Luis Corrons believed he was the victim if a practical joke when two people who had been involved in the running of the Mariposa botnet applied for a job at his company. It wasn’t a joke though: the two Spaniards who visited the…
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Sophos bought up by investment firm
APAX Partners acquires major stake in $830 million company. Sophos has announced that a majority share of the company will be sold to major private investment firm APAX Partners , in a deal which rates Sophos ‘s value at $830 million. APAX Partners has its fingers in a wide range of pies, including numerous telecoms…
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Symantec buys key pair of encryption firms
PGP and GuardianEdge snapped up in surprise dual acquisition. Symantec has announced the acquisition of two separate firms specialising in encryption and email security. The deals were completed in cash with PGP , a renowned specialist in public key cryptography, costing $300 million and GuardianEdge , which also provides encryption and data loss prevention solutions,…
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McAfee offers payments to cover FP cleanup costs
Compensation for faulty update victims could set precedent. Victims of the erroneous McAfee DAT update last month are being offered cash payments to cover costs incurred in fixing the problem. The issue emerged on 21 April, when users of McAfee ‘s corporate solution VirusScan Enterprise found their machines rendered inoperable after the common process svchost…
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Record breaking 60 anti-malware products undergo VB100 testing on Windows XP
One third fail to gain certification. Virus Bulletin has completed its largest ever test of anti-malware products, with a phenomenal 60 products being tested on Windows XP . 40 of the products submitted for testing were awarded the VB100 certification, while the other 20 failed to demonstrate the detection abilities required, with Microsoft , Frisk…
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VB2010 conference programme announced
Schedule for Vancouver security conference announced after bumper crop of submissions. Following a bumper crop of submissions, the VB2010 conference committee is pleased to announce the programme for VB2010 . Presentations cover subjects including: botnets, cyberterrorism, blackhat SEO, targeted attacks, Mac threats, anti-spam testing, anti-malware testing, in-the-cloud scanning and more. Later in the year a…
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